Stay out of the Landfills

You have to look at the end of the line, to fairly assess the green nature of any product. How fast a product ends up in the landfill and how quickly it breaks down in the landfill, are key issues.

Using a landfill at the end of the road as a measuring stick, Martin Door separates itself from other garage door companies when longevity comes into place. In some cases one Martin Door can outlast two or three other doors, made of lesser quality.

The complexity of the issue goes far beyond that, however. One key component of a garage door that seems to be an especially sensitive subject is insulation.

Martin Doors are insulated with polystyrene panels, sometimes known as EPS, while many manufacturers opt to utilize a foam injection polyurethane. Neither breaks down easily in a landfill.

However, there's a major difference in the way both types of insualtion can be handled or land-filled. With most of the older or damaged Martin Doors the EPS panels can be easily removed, and thus both the metal and EPS can be recycled.

The task is much more difficult with foam injected doors, often called “sandwich” doors. It is nearly impossible to remove the insulation from sandwich type doors, inhibiting the recycling of the steel in those doors. Instead of the steel recycle bin, these doors usually end up in the landfill.